the wound opens wide.

" Thanks Jer ! Always a saviour !" She climbed in the car with a grin on her face. However it was quickly replaced by a puzzled look when he agreed with her father. Never in a million year would have she expected him to side with authority. It felt uncharacteristic of him. " Are you really saying my dad is right ? Are you sick ? Are you under a spell ?" She joked. Unaware that it could be a very real possibility. " Are you talking about the animal attacks ? That's also kind of why I asked for a ride. I didn't want to cycle or be late and grounded or be a mountain lion's dinner." Neither options seemed good. " I think it's cool we have new people !" It made her feel less like a stranger. Perhaps some of them would want to be her friend too.

" don't mention it. " he put the car in drive and toward the young farm they sped. he said a half-hearted prayer of his own that the pastor wouldn't come out to greet them .... it wasn't that he didn't like pastor young , he'd always been kind enough , but he brought too much with him ( final rites. warmed up casserole. good intentions. ) attention snapped back to april. he rolled his eyes. " careful. hurt my feelings and you'll end up biking home after all , " he teased. a pause. he shook his head. " not all of the people you meet are going to be good people. " god , he probably did sound like her father. " look , i- " a sigh. " vicki and i got mixed up with some of them. it didn't turn out well. " given that they both died ---- twice in vicki's case ---- he'd say it ended pretty terribly , actually. " i know you're smart but i know you like to look for the good in people , give them the benefit of the doubt .... you're like my sister. i don't want you- " ran a hand through his hair. " people fucking suck , april. i don't want you to get hurt because of it. "

head swam with light , blurred together until steel and machine faded into something psychedelic. a grin. he felt like a goddamn convalescent. chemical joy , the taste of dopamine on the tongue .... it wasn't too much ( never too much ) , he'd just needed to give it a minute. eyes flit to the guy in front of him. " yeah ?? i've got time. " might not have attention , but god , he had all the time in the goddamn world. he walked toward the ride , hands digging in his pocket for tickets. he didn't spare the guy behind him a look. he'd come if he wanted to.

Tina turned to look at who had spoken to her. Jeremy Gilbert. Not the audience she had aimed for but he would do. " They would only be so lucky." However Tina was not really a team kind of person. She was not somone who shared the spotlight. It had to solely be on her. " Care to compete with me ? Or are you to scared I'll demolish you ?" Male ego could be so fragile.

he snorted. confident much ?? but , hell , she probably would. he wasn't the one that had been taking down cans with the single-mindedness of fucking sisyphus for the last god knows how long ... " do i get a warm up run first ?? "

he sat on the couch beside her and began unpacking the bags. chili pakora here , chicken 65 there ..... and so it went. he rolled his eyes. flipped on the tv and handed the remote to jenna. " hey , maybe if you stopped looking at me like that every time i did something nice , i'd do it more often. " ....that and dinner was technically on stefan ; he'd snagged a fifty from him and this seemed a good a use for it as any. " it's your turn to pick the movie. "

the handmaids tale, margaret atwood// @firstfullmoon // @stigmatawife // @jb-blunk // forever winter, taylor swift// @an-attempt-at-living // the memory of a memory, katie maria // erica jong // secrets from a girl whos seen it all, lorde; poster by mlgrsdesign// ? // @n1ntendos // @fairycosmos // @inanotherunivrse //@robertszombie // @notbigthief

Like a stable and totally not emotionally unstable person, she was taking her anger, frustration and agression on target attractions. It felt so good knocking down cans. Again and again. Tina eventually forgot about her troubles. " YES ! I win. Again !" She flipped her hair and was that close to do a celebratory dance. " This is how this is done people !"

he idled through the carnival , stopping at booths here and there. gave prizes to kids. lost too much money. during his time , he moved from ring toss to darts to water guns ..... and tina stayed at the cans. apparently she had a hell of an arm on her and a vendetta against tin. who'd of guessed ?? walking over , he stole a glance out of the corner of his eye. " trying out for the softball team ?? " he asked , voice wry.

and so down the stairs to pay the delivery driver he went. grabbing the bags , he rapped softly on the archway to the living room. " hey .... i ordered enough for three , if you're in the mood for indian. " he wasn't going to ask her if she was okay. he wasn't fucking stupid. she wasn't. but he'd walked that tightrope before , trying to find precarious footing on the line between fear and anger when the walls were closing in ---- it was where he'd spent most of his life. still , it'd be a lie if he said his heart hadn't seized at the news. the stop before a gallop. he'd lost enough. he didn't want to lose her. jenna who wasn't involved. jenna who was already in over her head ..... afflicted by them ; a blood curse she wasn't born or bound to. it wasn't that he wanted her gone .... but he did. safe and sound far from this springtrap town. she should know. she should be able to choose herself ..... a raised brow. " you game ?? "

"yeah, it's a perfect shot. only way it could get any better would be if you could take a hint and stepped out of it." the bright lights of the carnival were giving just the right vibe but they seemed impossible to pin down.

damn. he couldn't even stand in place without doing something wrong ..... body turned from the lights to the girl. " sorry. " it was a half-assed apology ---- he didn't mean it. he shuffled out of the way. hit his vape. " you're gonna have a hard time with that. too many people. " and god forbid she ask someone like lydia or caroline ....

anxiety had  taken  root  before  the  event  had  even  began ,   only  growing as  the  night  continued ----  soon  his  chest  would  be  a  bitter   green  garden  of  worry.  these  things ....  they  just  never   went  well  for   him ,  did they ?? halloween , founder's day .... he lit a joint. went to find a bench to watch the colors dance. eyes darted to the occupant ---- another strange face. held out the joint in offering. " mind if i sit ?? "

he should've known better ..... now he was in too deep. heart at a gallop , brain hissing-itching-scratching ..... brain that sounded like the grit and grind of shrieking metal ( he was sixteen and seeing god through the haze of whatever pills had been stuffed inside his mouth. sprawled out on her mattress , the girl he'd just fucked was going on and on about industrialization and rust and blood and he was thinking about vicki. she was right. hell sounded like the grinding whirr in his head right now. like the cogs in his brain spinning and chafing and- ) snapped from his revelry. " shit , " he muttered. blown-wide pupils stared at a mess of spilt popcorn. he was pretty sure he wanted to eat that too. damn. " nah , you're- " a wave of the hand. " 's fine , seriously. don't worry about it. " eyes caught on ride , all technicolor lights and bodies hurtling faster and faster ..... maybe they'd go supernova. he grinned. " i almost fell out of that one once. " the belt hadn't been clipped well. " wanna ride it with me ?? "

" Hey ! Could you give me a ride back to my farm ? " April was supposed to cycle back to her home but it was getting late. It was dark and she was past curfiew. She needed to find a creative solution to get home quickly." If my dad catches me outside when the sun has set, I'm in big trouble !" They had already fought the previous day and she did not fancy being grounded. " You're not going to kidnap me right ?" She joked. In such a small town, everyone knew each others and there was no such things as kidnappings.

he snorted. gestured for april to follow him to the car. " c'mon. " knowing what he did now , it was hard to blame pastor young for his rules ---- not that he thought the man would be particularly thrilled to see that jeremy was the one bringing april home , either. " -and risk one of your father's sermons ?? " he asked , voice wry. eyes flit from the road to april ---- this girl he'd known since childhood. stomach twisted. something heavy came to rest over him. something afraid ..... for her , if not himself. " he's right , though. there's too much going down right now. too many new people. "